Thanks for the update!

Profile pictures will be needed to be either provided by the teams, or us contacting them, but usually it's the former.

This is based on an old roster. It'll probably be updated accordingly

Swapped schedule for XIA vs FS. Sharper vs 47 will be first.

I forgot

[D TIER]

China - Pls comeback your playstyle were so aggressive it would've been amazing to see the teams compete in the LCQ but China had to be China. Teams like KONE, ToE, EDG, Totoro, were top tiers of the region and I would've love to see them compete.

https://tiermaker.com/create/asian-regions-1228666
[S TIER]

Thailand - In my own opinion, they're equally the best sub-region in Asia. You could argue that South Korea (which I am putting in S Tier as well) might have a say about it, but just look at Thailand's throughout last season:

• Winning the first-ever Masters
• Dominate Stage 2 SEA Challengers: Playoffs and make it an all-Thai finals
• Becoming SEA's first representative to the first-ever interregional LAN
• Managed to beat what was considered Korea's 2nd best team handily and beat Japan's rising star in a close match in order to qualify for Champions
• Took a former Masters champion and eventual finalist to three maps without a clear-cut winner between the two teams

All the while maintaining stability amongst rosters and teams within the local ecosystem. X10C might lose Patiphan and left their org, but under Xerxia and with the addition of Surf, I think they'll still have something to do with regional dominance. FULL SENSE kept their 5 and still performed well regionally, especially now looking at ZOTAC Cup and FPSTH Tournament. Not to mention the rest of the group like Sharper, MiTH, AAA, and others.

South Korea - Oh dear, you could have so much going on with your region. Internationally, you had something with NUTURN in Reykjavik, but VS was just disappointed in both Berlin LANs. I was a bit iffy on adding KR to S Tier due to the fact that at the end of the season: NUTURN, F4Q, and some other notable grassroots teams (TNL, etc.) imploded. But from the ashes, rise one of the amazing roster fiestas I've seen for the new season. New DWG, ESC, and others rising up to form superteams might bring new life to the region. DRX (then VS) is still around, yknow. I think if they can keep their region stable internationally in the long run, they might catch up with the rest of the competition.

[A TIER]

Indonesia - Bias aside, they've been relatively silent. BOOM was defeated unceremoniously in the LCQ, but even before that during the SEA Challengers Playoffs, you see the potential of the Indonesian teams amongst the more favoured groups such as MY/SG, Thailand, and the Philippines. They rocked. Now with the refreshing of the current rosters in full force, we see results showing like Alter Ego's win in the TEC Challengers Series, and BOOM's win in the TEC Showdown. New and returning teams like Morph Impact, Bigetron Astro, Ethereal, and the likes slowly moving over the horizon, I think Indonesia might have a shot at an international appearance. And don't forget ONIC. They just won SEAC. They're so good.

Malaysia/Singapore - Yeah, I put them here. Yeah, it's just Paper Rex and Kingsmen. Well, maybe Bleed too. Imagine bringing Pyth, Maxie, and LEGIJA to the team. Jesus, what doesn't this team do? Regardless, Malaysia/Singapore was just Paper Rex slaying over the region for the majority of the 3 stages. Add UwU on the side and you have the entire MY/SG year in a nutshell. PRX did well in Berlin, but you can see how much stronger other teams were. Forsaken might do Forsaken things, but it wasn't enough. Added on top of that PRX fell in the lower bracket to NORTHEPTION and Damwon, it was a disappointing year. However, if pre-VCT 2022 is any signs of improvement, is that someone told Kingsmen they were forgotten and decided to remind the rest of the region why they should be feared. They were just behind PRX and UwU for most of the 2021 season, and they've been slowly improving. Now, they're waiting on the Grand Finals of the ZOTAC Cup. The region has promise. Time to remind the rest of APAC how you'd do.

Japan - Same with Korea. You had so much potential. However, a running theme for some of these regions is that it's going to be only 2-4 teams that remain stable, while the rest of the scene shifts around and crumbles. We thought ZETA would rule over us all. Then it was Crazy Raccoon. Both were fine, but they weren't amazing internationally. They were the top teams in Japan, but the rest just lagged behind. NORTHEPTION managed to put the foot on the gas pedal at the LCQ, but FULL SENSE had to stop them from overspeeding. But with 2022 coming around, KR's roster fiesta affected JP as well, and it is glorious. Lakia's in Japan with IGZIST! ZETA, CR, and some other teams murdered NORTHEPTION! Superteams are rising up just across the Eastern Sea! Like Korea, if they can keep the stability of these new rosters in regards to the region, I can see them improve massively. Now please, let Lakia play.

The Philippines - What do you mean? Why'd I put PH here when TS managed to go to the quarterfinals of Champions? And only lost to the eventual finalists and World Champions? Yeah, I know, put me on a stake. However, it was clear that last season, it was the all-Bren (now Team Secret) show. Sure, put some Hashira, 6045Pirates (now Zeal Esports), Galaxy Racer (now Nigma Galaxy), SV Empire, SR Kadiliman in there, but by far it was Bren that only managed to break through to the upper echelons. However, like Korea and Japan, PH had a little bit of a roster fiesta, and with the 2022 season starting, someone please take a look at Action PH. Seriously, where did they come from?! Also, who managed to predict that Crazyguy and ZeesbeW would move over to the Philippines and join Nigma Galaxy? Aside from that, teams once again refreshed their roster, but I wouldn't be surprised if Team Secret is the one who would rule PH again. Well, maybe SBE, Action PH, Nigma, SV Empire, NAOS, etc. have something to say about it. Now I'll wait for some stern words from my new imported region.

[B TIER]

South Asia/India - They are such an enigma, pun intended. They'll show flashes of brilliance like GE did against F4Q, but my god they'll make some of the dumbest mistakes when it comes to interregional competition, shown in TEC Showdown, Challengers Series, and Zotac Cup. Don't get me wrong: South Asia has a lot of potential. But internet infrastructure aside, there are just these fundamental mistakes that either make them caught off guard by other teams or have them lagged behind the competition overall. GE can't carry the region forever. I need to see performances from Velocity, Enigma, Team Exploit, etc. if they want to have proper stability and competitive advantage with the APAC Playoffs coming soon. Please, fellas, I know you can do it.

Australia - They were robbed. Thankfully, it seems now that OCE is now packaged with APAC, they might have a chance to prove themselves interregionally. They're good. One might point to Soniqs (ex-EXO CLAN) being a poster team of an OCE team failing to perform internationally, but I will say this: It was during the early stages of competitive Valorant. I think at that point, the scene wasn't maturing enough for a team to go there and compete. Now we have seen a full year of development, I want to see teams like ORDER, Chiefs (or ex-Chiefs), Crimas Disciples, or any of the teams in the OCE Tour: Stage 1 groups perform well. They have a level of refined play that might give a good fight to the rest of the APAC region and considering to most that they're an unknown quantity, I think OCE will catch some teams off guard.

[C TIER]

Hong Kong/Taiwan - Arguably the weakest existing region within APAC, HK/TW needs to prove that they can have regional stability. Teams like Five Ace e-Sports, Griffin, former KPC, were honestly good teams that could've gone far, but the rest of the region had to perform better than them. Added on top of the fact that I swear a roster fiesta happens every Stage break, I don't see proof of a regional stability. Prove me wrong.

Vietnam - Same with you, Vietnam. Team Big BAAM had potential. Cerberus had potential. And honestly, after them, there's a decent-sized canyon between them and the rest of Vietnam. They need to improve.

Updated with the current set of rosters.

there'll be a new X10 roster, not talking about current XIA.

Bait, TS said that they're not releasing anyone

Hidden stats most likely.

Will be resolved. Hang on.

No, it's because the current members of FW Esports doesn't have any data in the VLR database as of now. Once the match is played, they'll be added as 5.

that's DRX's logo. That's not VS'.

I'm not going to judge you, nor do I hope you're going to judge me. But I wish that you and any other person from both sides won't generalize each other. There are bad eggs from both sides. Neither are exempt from the disgraceful behaviour. You see how social media can be the literal toxic cesspool of comments and that's not an excuse to make either of us higher than the other.

Rivals are rivals, but keep it fierce and friendly.

From what I heard he's a pubstar, but since he can reach Top 10 ranked, he is probably somewhat raw, but a good ceiling above for him.

Have you read the article?

They didn't drop Patiphan. He always wanted to go back to OW regardless, Valorant was somewhat of a stopgap.

Thank you ONIC

Top 1.

Correct.

no, different Derek.

Regional rivalry gets heated, and as a result, people turn a blind eye to legitimate concerns.

personally, I have 40-50 ping to HK and that's more than serviceable. You can still frag.

Yes, but we also have another official source stating a different time, so we're unsure what time is being used. So we took a decision to put it as TBD until we know for sure.

Edit: We got confirmation of a time from another legitimate source.

Due to unforeseen events due to Covid - Senyorcarl, Beats and Craigys will not be playing but instead will be replaced with some stand-in players - Kel, N1CO and Asta

Thanks for the info!

Correct. It'll to compensate for maxie and pyth potentially not being able to arrive in Singapore in time for the first part of Challengers due to Omicron and heightened restrictions.

There was a technical problem that led to them not being able to stream Haven. The map was still played off-stream.

Paper Rex isn't even Indonesian. They have two Indonesian players, but they're still a Malaysian/Singaporean team. Good Indonesian teams include BOOM, Alter Ego, and ONIC as the current stars, with maybe Bigetron Astro, XcN, and Morph Impact as the mid-tier 1 teams. Then you have the rest of the Tier 2 teams.

It was Imcarnus, former player coach for Kantic Gaming in Vietnam. He's French.

Thank you for your kind words.

Valorant Esports KR have released their timeline. You can check it out on valesports.co.kr.

Korea will be separate from what I'm understanding. They're not bunched together with APAC.

It also introduces more international pathways for Oceanic players to head overseas and compete in the APAC Playoffs,

They bolded that part. They have plans, but will it be the plan when the event actually comes?

Don't really forget, but I am severely sleep-deprived. I think South Asia would still be within the minor circuits towards LCQ.

Not yet. Do remember that EMEA has its own TO, APAC has 3 separate regions (JP, KR, SEA; not to mention SEA has 6 different TOs for each subregion), NA their own, LATAM their own. It'll be revealed on their own time.

Usually, it's reliant on teams to either supply/ask us with player pictures or vice versa. As for nagZ, we can easily edit that.

We play in one server and I think they should change that one rule.

You do know that each country has different servers to adhere to? While the infrastructure is capable enough for players to hop on from one server to another, let me tell you that jumping from SG to HK and vice versa is night and day. 30 to 60 ping is noticeable and that puts pressure onto the infrastructure, TOs, and orgs to consider their investments. A single regional Challengers for SEA won't work. A mixture of what I've said before added on top of the regional esports culture makes it difficult. Challengers SEA Finals is unique as it is for now.

No. You need to have at least 3 players from the home region your team is participating in. That's why PRX has 2 SG and 1 MY to meet the quota added on top of the 2 Indonesian players. Nigma Galaxy for example now has 3 Filipino players, 1 Vietnamese player, and 1 Singaporean player. Those are fine.

It's logical. SEA consists of 6 different national circuits. Indonesia, Thailand, MY/SG, HK/TW, Vietnam, and the Philippines. It's not to prevent any types of import or whatsoever, it's so that teams won't go crazy over importing them. It's been standard procedure with some of the regional TOs and what not. It's not sad, it's just the logistical limitations that allows for this format to flourish especially for SEA.

Correct

They posted a teaser during the Worlds broadcast:

https://clips.twitch.tv/FilthyAmazonianIcecreamPJSalt-clMmkARPOooLxzHf

It's always going to be murky waters with an all-online format, and the rules were there to hopefully mitigate this. Whether or not it's fair is for each of us to think, tbh. But personally, I do believe TEC is taking the fault. Whether or not PRX was complicit or not is another story, both are at fault one way or another.

Which like I said earlier, the TEC mods claim they are adhering to. In the Server Selection Article, it is not explicitly claimed which servers are mentioned (unless they just followed what was chosen during the LCQ,) only that the TO is responsible on finding the most equal-distanced server for both teams.

..which the TEC mods claim they are adhering to. In the Server Selection Article, it is not explicitly claimed which servers are mentioned (unless they just followed what was chosen during the LCQ,) only that the TO are responsible on finding the most equal-distanced server for both teams.

I definitely understand the anger from both fanbases and both the TEC and PRX are at fault, I just want yall to take a look at the official ruleset from the APAC LCQ which TEC mods claimed they are adhering to. It's not fully PRX's fault, nor is it TEC's, but the latter is suspicious.

7.6.2. Server Selection.

Prior to each Match, the Tournament Official will select the server which is as close to
equidistant from the teams as possible.

By the official ruleset (based on the most recent APAC LCQ)

7.6.2. Server Selection.

Prior to each Match, the Tournament Official will select the server which is as close to
equidistant from the teams as possible.

7.6.2. Server Selection.

Prior to each Match, the Tournament Official will select the server which is as close to
equidistant from the teams as possible.

https://liquipedia.net/commons/images/b/b0/VCT_APAC_LCQ_Competition_Rules.pdf

That's what I thought as well.

Both are at fault. Integrity is important, and to be at this point is a shame, but to put the wrong to one part only isn't the full truth.